What is SMART?
The SMART project is focused on mobile charging stations (MCSs), which are essential for addressing the lack of charging facilities in rural areas and reducing range anxiety for electric vehicle (EV) users. These stations can be moved to various locations, minimizing concerns about power infrastructure and site limitations. Rural America will likely need numerous MCSs to overcome charging deserts, with the high investment costs associated with new battery energy storage systems (BESS) and their low usage rates pose significant challenges to widespread adoption. Additionally, the need for substantial and new BESS in MCSs places a strain on the U.S. battery supply chain.
Project Objectives
The project seeks to tackle the urgent need for affordable mobile charging stations (MCSs) in rural America by repurposing second-life batteries from electric vehicles (EVs). The project has several key objectives:
- 1) To design, develop, demonstrate, and validate four types of cost-effective MCSs to lower initial investment costs
- 2) To establish and demonstrate the first affordable, resilient, and sustainable rural EV infrastructure across multiple states (TN, OH, VA, KY, WV, KS, and TX) by integrating these affordable MCSs into the existing charging network to support electrification in underserved rural areas
- 3) To gather and analyze data on second-life battery-integrated MCSs to evaluate market potential and benefits
- 4) To create outreach, training, and education programs to enable a wide range of EV stakeholders to make informed decisions about adopting MCSs powered by second-life batteries and to develop economically viable charging stations.
Project Team
The project team includes a leading electric vehicle manufacturer (Nissan North America), two MCS providers (BoxPower and FreeWire), a second-life BESS diagnostic firm (ReJoule), a battery materials recycling company (Princeton NuEnergy), four universities (Tennessee Technological University, University of Texas-Austin, University of Kansas, and University of Memphis), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, two DOE Clean Cities coalitions (East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and Virginia Clean Cities), three State Energy Offices (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Kentucky Office of Energy Policy, Texas State Energy Conservation Office), a highly regarded engineering, procurement, and construction company (Black & Veatch), and Twinify Technologies.
Interested in hosting a demo charging station at your site?
Contact Russell Presnell, rpresnell@vacleancities.org, 540.746.3562